


i haven't seen you in forever, but you still feel like home

by sunfl0w3r



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Inspired By Tumblr, M/M, based on their post, check out xandertheundead on tumblr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 03:47:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18460838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunfl0w3r/pseuds/sunfl0w3r
Summary: Richie and Eddie used to be best friends. More than that, actually. But Eddie received an offer to go to culinary school in France- how could he say no? Over time, they drifted apart, and didn't speak for years.Until now. Richie and Eddie meet again, and have a chance to start again.





	i haven't seen you in forever, but you still feel like home

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this post by XanderTheUndead on tumblr :)  
> http://xandertheundead.tumblr.com/post/184000867705/french-cusine-au

“We’ll keep in touch, Eds.” That’s what Richie had said. “I’ll call you every night, maybe even video chat for those more risque conversations.” Even now, Eddie couldn’t help but chuckle at Richie’s antics, even though he hadn’t talked to the boy in eight years. 

He and Richie had been best friends for as long as he could remember, meeting on the first day of elementary school, bonding immediately over a shared fascination in the way their teacher’s mole on her lip moved when she talked, and, since then, they’d always been at each others’ sides. Until ten years ago, that is. 

Eddie had always dreamed of becoming a chef. He’d always been fascinated in cuisine, and had been forced to cook for himself since he was a child- due to his mother’s inability to function as a normal human. So, when he received an offer to spend five years in France learning how to master French cuisine up-close, how could he say no?

Apparently, that was Richie’s exact query. In high school, the two boys had gotten even closer than best friends. Richie had crossed the line of platonic love, stepping into the zone of romance, and Eddie had been more than happy to let him. The boys were happily dating for a good few years, they even moved into an apartment together in the summer before their freshman year of college. All was going splendidly- the two boys had never been more in love, until-

“Richie, oh my gosh, you’ll never guess what came in the mail!” Eddie practically skidded into the living room of their apartment, waving an envelope in the air, eyes glowing with excitement. On the floor, where he had been absently plucking at his guitar, Richie looked up curiously, a few stray curls hanging over his forehead. Even in his excitement, Edie couldn’t help but notice how beautiful he was, the morning sun streaking through half-closed blinds to highlight the flecks of gold in his green eyes, to accentuate the freckles scattered across his pale skin. Richie cocked his head, blinking up at Eddie in silent (for once) question. “I got a letter from Le Cordon Bleus!” Though it was clear Richie had no idea what that was, he fed off of Eddie’s excitement, a large smile growing across his face. “It’s a french cooking school,” Edie explained, “they offered to let me transfer there for five years!” Just like that, Richie’s smile was gone. 

“They- like, you’d go to… France? For a whole five years?” Eddie blinked. 

“Well, yeah. Is that a problem?”

“N- no. I mean. I’m proud of you!” Eddie could tell that his smile was fake, the sadness in his eyes betrayed him. “I’m just… five years is a long time, I’ll miss you, Eds.”

“Oh.” Eddie blinked, and, just like that, all of his previous excitement was gone, like someone had flipped a switch, draining all of it from him. “Shit- Rich. I didn’t even think about that…” The sunlight didn’t look so pretty in Richie’s eyes anymore, all of the pain in them was drowning out the gold flecks. He wished that he could say he wouldn’t go, to make all of that pain go away, but his was the opportunity of a lifetime. He wasn’t about to pull a Rachel from Friends and ditch a golden opportunity for a man, was he? When he looked into Richie’s beautiful, sad eyes, he wasn’t so sure. He had waited his whole life for something like this to pop up, sure. But he’d loved Richie for his whole life, too. It was an impossible decision, giving up one dream for another. 

“I- It’s all right, Eds. We can make it work, right?” Eddie wasn’t so sure. He’d heard all the horror stories about long distance relationships- the cheating, the distractions, the emotional distance. It was hard to believe that, even though he and Richie were close, they wouldn’t be affected by such things, and Eddie’s anxiety definitely wasn’t helping the situation. “We can call every night, text all the time. It’ll be just like it is now, but… really far apart.” Richie tried to make that sound less depressing than it was, pairing it with a meager smile. And Eddie, being the lovesick fool that he was, let Richie convince him. 

Looking back, he would try and curse himself, he would try and wish that he had decided to stay. But he couldn’t deny that he loved his life now. Sure, he refused to date anyone, or even think about romance, but hey, that was just because he was so busy all the time, right? And when he saw pictures of Richie and his band- which had gotten to be quite popular over the  past few years- pop up on Instagram, or even in magazines, his heart didn’t hurt so bad that he wanted to rip it out of his chest, right? 

Okay, maybe Eddie could think of one way that his life would be better. But he was doing swell! After moving to France, Eddie had adjusted to life there easily,  making friends in his classes, winning the favours of his professors. He managed to get good grades all the way throughout university, and snagged a well-paying job at a fine-dining restaurant. His life was packed to the brim, busy with exciting opportunities and happiness. Too busy for Richie, it turned out.

Richie had broken up with him through an email, of all things, breaking countless social codes, and Eddie’s heart, in the process. Though it wasn’t exactly out of the blue, that didn’t make it hurt any less when Eddie opened up the email, and blinked back tears as he read it. It didn’t make Eddie’s chest ache any less as he sobbed on the floor of his dorm, curled up for hours.

Eventually, Eddie stopped checking his phone for cheesy good morning texts when he woke up. He stopped leaving his ringer on at night, in case Richie decided to call him, forgetting about the time-zone difference. But, somewhere, though he hated it, he knew that he never stopped loving Richie.

Now, ten years after he had moved to France, Eddie was back in America. Having saved a decent amount of money over the years, he was opening a French cuisine restaurant, a high class one at that. He spent months perfecting everything- from finding the perfect location, all the way down to selecting the cutlery. And, having finally realised his plans, he was able to open the restaurant.

His restaurant was amazingly successful, generating loads of people, and bringing in thousands of excellent reviews. It wasn’t entirely unusual for the occasional celebrity to even wander in, and Eddie couldn’t have been happier.

About a month after Eddie had opened the restaurant, on one of the less busy days, a popular band arrived in a black car. Of course, as Eddie was in the back, cooking, he had no clue what awaited him. Even when an order for beef bourignon and chocolate mousse was passed back to him, which had always been Richie’s favourite things for him to make, Eddie suspected nothing. He let himself get caught up in the memories of cooking for Richie, sure. He let himself remember when Richie’d somehow managed to get chocolate mousse all over himself, and how Eddie had playfuly licked some off of his neck. Eddie’s cheeks reddened a little as he remembered what happened after that, and, by then, he was on to the next order, quick to be pulled from his nostalgia. 

Eddie was in the middle of making a dessert  crêpe, one of his favourite, and easiest, recipes, when he was called to the dining area by a somewhat flustered looking waitress. Compliments to the chef, she’d said. Though compliments weren’t entirely rare, Eddie was still incredibly pleased, and made sure he looked somewhat presentable before following her out.

He saw Richie just a few seconds after walking out of the kitchen, freezing in his place with wide eyes. The waitress turned to look at him, head tilted inquisitively, but Eddie couldn’t even begin to form words to explain himself. As a matter of fact, he could hardly breathe. And, fortunately or not, Richie noticed. 

If Eddie hadn’t been silently wheezing and regretting all of his life choices, they probably would’ve made romantic eye contact, maybe ran into each other’s arms sobbing. However, Eddie felt like he was literally about to die, and probably looked like it, too, and so Richie just kind of stared at him, eyes wide with shock.

The entire restaurant was watching them now, several forks suspended mid-air on their way to some pompous customer’s mouth. But Eddie hardly cared, eyes huge as he stared at Richie, and Richie stared right back. They stayed frozen like that for a good few seconds, Richie’s bandmates all looking at their friend in confusion and concern, their bewilderment increasing as Richie pushed himself out of his chair, and strode towards Eddie, his shocked expression melting more into, what- intrigue, maybe? Eddie let him take his arm, and lead him back through the double doors of the kitchen, still hardly processing the situation he found himself in. 

“Eds.” Richie’s voice was breathy, as if he could hardly believe that this was real. To be fair, it hardly seemed real. From the far end of the kitchen, the sous chef stared at them curiously, not that either of them noticed.

“Hi, Richie.” Eddie marvelled at how his voice didn’t shake when he spoke, despite the anxious churning of his stomach, and the panicked screeching that had become background noise in his mind from the moment that he saw Richie. For a while, they just blinked at each other, taking it all in. 

Richie’s style didn’t seem to have changed one bit since Eddie last saw him- he wore an obnoxious hawaiian shirt over a Hozier shirt, paired with bright orange jeans and an entirely different shade of orange converse. He still wore his yellow-framed glasses, and his hair was still a beautiful curly mess. In other words, Richie was still absolutely hot and a complete dork, it seemed.

Eddie figured he probably looked much the same as well. As far as he could tell, his sense of style hadn’t changed much- his wardrobe was still comprised of oversized sweater and mom jeans. And, physically, the only change was that Eddie had gotten maybe half and inch inch taller. Basically, he was still exactly the same. Richie, it seemed, shared his sentiments.

“You look the same.” Eddie noticed how Richie’s hand seemed to twitch towards him. “I- I mean. You look great. I’m glad you look the same,” he stumbled over his words, wincing a little. “Not that I would be upset if you looked different, change is good! But-” Richie took in a deep breath, his words deflating. “I just… missed you, is all.” Eddie couldn’t help but smile at that, a whole flurry of butterflies taking flight inside him at Richie’s words. 

“I missed you too, ‘Chee.” They both blinked at the pet name that slipped from Eddie’s lips, almost startled by the familiarity of it all. It was like they were suspended in air, wrapped in this careful conversation, and one wrong breath could send them crashing back to reality, back to when they hadn’t spoked for years, back to how Eddie had sobbed all alone, and how Richie had stared numbly at his ceiling, itching to call Eddie. 

“Are you… um.” Richie took in a deep breath, and Eddie could tell that he was nervous. “Are you seeing anyone?”He smiled, letting out a relieved sigh when Eddie shook his head, and the butterflies that fluttered around inside Eddie multiplied. Did Richie still feel the same? It seemed that way. 

“Are you?”

“Oh, god no.” Richie shook his head adamantly. “I haven’t been with anyone since we-” he blinked, uncertainty in his eyes as he looked at Eddie, his words falling short.

“Me neither,” Eddie said, his tone cautious. They slipped into silence, a million unsaid words hanging  in the air between them. 

“Are you-

“Would you-” They both spoke at the same time, breaking off with a few awkward laughs.

“Sorry, you go,” said Eddie, looking up at at Richie, who shifted restlessly from one foot to the other. Seeming nervous, Richie shook his head.

“No, it’s fine. You go, Eds.”

“I-” Eddie stuttered, mouth opening and closing soundlessly as he gaped up at him. “No, no, it’s not important. You… you can go.” Richie, seeming to understand that literally nothing on Earth would make Eddie talk, sighed, nodding.

“Ok, um” He shifted from one foot to the other, wetting his lips. “I was uh… just wondering if maybe you’d like to go get dinner with me sometime?” Eddie beamed, eyes lighting up.

“I’d love that.” Richie beamed as well, his forest green eyes crinkling at the corners. 

“Awesome! I can pick you up on Friday, if that works.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Eddie couldn’t agree quickly enough, nodding emphatically.

“Great!” Richie nodded, eyes alight. “It’s a date, then.” 

“I can’t wait.” He smiled up at Richie, and the two stood there for a few moments, just beaming at each other until Richie blinked, lifting one hand in the air to point vaguely at nothing.

“Ah! Well.” He let his hand drop. “I believe I have an absolutely delicious beef bourignon waiting for me, so I must be off, but um…” He shot Eddie a crooked smile, taking his breath away. “I can’t wait for Friday.”

“Me neither.”

  
  



End file.
